#angsty romantasy it is

[blam-marie]

Finally have a decent blurb for The Gods Must Die, I think. Let me know what you all think about that:

Callahan Pandraken is a warrior princess, and she is prophetized to die while killing the shadow king who will try to invade her land. She has lived her entire life with that knowledge, but after an ill-advised tryst with the man in question, it comes out that HE was not previously aware of their shared destiny. Unwilling to die simply because the gods deemed it so, the shadow king Mordecai DeFirce renounces his plans of conquest. When he shows up unannounced at Tintagonal castle for peace talks, Callahan sees it as victory. The gods, however, see it as an insult. No one should be allowed to renounce their destiny; not even the villain. As they set forth to separate the happy couple and force a war between both kingdoms, Callahan must make a choice between the prophecy that has shadowed her entire life, or the terrifying path of rebellion and True Love. And in order to rescue the Shadow King and save her kingdom from war, the path seems clear; the gods must die.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

To add onto that Malleus popularity speculation, I think another major reason why that you never mentioned is the simple fact that characters of Malleus' archetype are just more popular in general in the west amongst working age women.

There are plenty of adult novel containing male supernatural love interests. Fae and vampire romance novels are still extremely popular amongst adult readers. A Court of Thorns and Roses is technically an ADULT novel, NOT YA. Even m|m supernatural stories even fall into this category with Stolas/Blitz from Helluva Boss being an extremely popular over here. That pairing is from an adult animated show. Stolas shares a lot of similarities with Malleus.

Hell, even if you step into western contemporary romance novels, the male love interest tends to be more brooding and angsty with flawed leads. Everything from classic literature like Jane Eyre to modern shit like anything Colleen Hoover writes. (Don't get it twisted. I'm NOT saying that Malleus is anything like those leads. Just using those very popular example of brooding bad boy love interests in adult contemporary fiction in the west.)

Meanwhile in East Asia, those sorts of leads tend to be geared towards teenagers. Working age women want a more stable, realistic love interest that would take care of them like Trey.

Westerners seem to prefer more complex, intense romantic relationships, where the stakes feel higher and the emotional payoff is more significant. They will naturally write Trey off as a "big brother" character instead of seeing him as a romantic lead material thanks to being more used to seeing characters like Malleus as the love interest in stories.

I could be way off base, since I'm not Asian and far from being an expert on Japanese culture, but that's my two cents based on my observations. This is also based on broad generalizations. Neither culture is a monolith.

[Referencing this post and (more specifically!) my speculation here!]

Oh, for sure 💀 I made a post a while ago talking about how Malleus (especially from the yumejoshi/self-shipping perspective) reminds me a lot of the new "Shadow Daddy" archetype that has emerged in the romantasy genre. I mean, just look at how many of the Shadow Daddy traits Malleus ticks off:

is a nonhuman being (usually fae)

500 yrs old (or at least several hundred years old or a significant age gap between the Shadow Daddy love interest and typically female main character)

looks young and hot/conventionally attractive despite the age

is OP (usually with shadow/night/darkness related magic)

is royalty or in some kind of position of power

dark hair and/or skin (sometimes both)

“morally grey” and/or has issues (you can fix him)

brooding

looks or is rumored to be intimidating but is actually lonely and misunderstood, with a heart of gold

animalistic in some manner (usually with bat/raven/dragon-like wings)

has a tattoo or some kind of bodily markings (Malleus has the scales under his hair; you could also count the OB facial markings I guess)

Outside of romantasy novels geared towards older teens (18-19) and adults, the west seems to really love brooding bad boys as love interests in a lot of its media. Something else I noticed is that the "good guys" or the "boy next door" types like Trey tend to be "the other man" in heterosexual love triangles, which miiight also explain why he gets looked over in the western fandom. (I discussed some of my own observations, which are similar to the points mentioned here, in the posts linked above.)

I wouldn’texactly phrase it like westerners preferring "more complex, intense romantic relationships [... with higher stakes and more significant emotional payoff]", as that unintentionally implies that there has to be brooding or angst in order for the story or character arc to be "good". I feel a lot of it actually depends on the execution rather than the tropes present. For example, I've seen many "Shadow Daddies" that exist purely for wish fulfillment rather than emotional or story/character complexity (which, to be clear, there's nothing wrong with if this is the kind of thing you enjoy!). Wholesome or "normal" romances also have the capacity to be complex, intense, high-stakes, and emotionally significant too! Again, it all depends on the quality of writing and what one's personal preferences are. You'll find outliers regardless of culture as well--as the asker has stated, no culture is a monolith!

[bluiela]

Imagine reading a romance book where a girl can choose between two guys and thinking she'll end up with the one who has "pleasant" "comfortable" interactions with her

And not the angsty and tension filled one where she initially doesn't like him

Tell me without tell me that you just self-insert and/or have never read a romantasy book

[olderthannetfic]

The To Gaze Upon a Wicked God situation is more complicated than a straightforward "yes/no" on whether it's a colonizer romance or not imo.

I think the author wants to send an anti colonial message with the book, but it very much wants to have the cake and eat it too. It's written a lot like other "dark romantasy" and the marketing surrounding it went hard on the enemies to lovers thing (the Zutara comparisons especially was still being pushed even in late April). Iirc, the real love interest only appears for less than five scenes?

With that in mind, I don't think it's unreasonable to read the protagonist's rejection of the prince at the end as a set-up to a tortured "I love him but I can't trust him anymore because he's evil and lied to me" while Baihu simped for her in the background and the prince gets redeemed with a heroic act at the end of the second book or something. That was my impression until it was revealed that the childhood friend was the real love interest.

(Maybe I just read too many angsty "you killed my whole clan but I still love you even though I'm not supposed to" cnovels in my youth hahaha)

Imo, it was in really bad taste to do a fake out marketing, but idk if she has control over that. It feels like nobody around her understood how touchy the subject and her inspirations were, because none of these irl decisions wouldn't have happened if they did. I don't think the original anon had the right to comment like they understood everything without reading the book, but I completely get the feeling of "wtf girl you did not just write/say that." Also the writing was... not good.

I hope the "baihu cut" remedies a lot of its issues. Plenty of white authors write shit takes on history. Asian authors shouldn't be burned at the stake when they do the same

--

(Followup to last anon about to gaze upon wicked gods) One thing I forgot is that the author's notes directly mentioned the Japanese occupation and unit 731. I think it's reasonable for readers to make the connection between that and the Roman invasion + human experimentation mentioned in the book. I can't blame them from being grossed out or even outraged when everything irl points to Antony being the intended love interest even though he's the leader of in universe unit 731

I can well believe that it's mostly a skill issue.

People should be free to criticize a book for what's actually in there, but yeah, there's definitely this vibe like nonwhite authors or minority authors or whomever aren't allowed to just... not be very good.

I don't mean they should be free from all criticism, but there's a particular type of extra torches-and-pitchforks criticism that amounts to "Thou shalt be a godlike writer from birth or else!"

[mermaidsirennikita]

what would you say are the biggest trends when it comes to romance novels getting published nowadays and how do you feel about them?

Oh gosh, that's hard to say. In part because I am both deeply NOT on trend in what I seek out, and on trend in that I read a lot of ARCs from trad publishers? Who aren't the only trendsetters by any means, but are the ones with the most $$$.

(This got long so some of it goes under the cut.)

—Romantasy. Obviously. I hate the term romantasy, I think it's literally just made by marketers

(digression: I don't care if a random TikToker came up with the name, the nebulous thing that it IS... pure marketing, there is no definition, and I truly think that genre has to have DEFINITION to be a genre or even a subgenre, it can't just be what one random person thinks it is; you can genre-bend, play with it, but the people you are directing your product to needs to know SOMETHING about what they're buying; I'd compare it to selling a necklace and calling it jewelry without telling the buyer what the stones or metals ARE)

but undoubtedly this is a huge trend. There seems to be a biiiit of paranormal romance making a return with this—see: Kresley Cole's IAD rerelease books being marketed as "romantasy" when there's very little romantasy about that series.... But overall you see the connection to shows like Game of Thrones, etc, within them. Tons of dragons.

—Romcoms continue on. Lots of low stakes romcoms. I do not like these. A lot of the time they blur into women's fiction. The women's fiction blur I think has something to do with Colleen Hoover (though most of her books aren't intentionally funny) but also just publishing trying to capitalize on romance without committing to romance. Emily Henry is a good example of this. Sally Rooney is a more ~literary example. Jasmine Guillory. Etc etc.

They're impossible to really figure out, imo. Are they gonna be hot? Are they gonna be funny? Are they gonna be emotional? Yulin Kuang's How to End a Love Story is a great example of a book that is, to me, near-perfect. It's ABSOLUTELY a romance novel. But is it a romcom? Not really. It has funny moments and a beautiful HEA, but it's a VERY angsty book. Yet I saw it marketed as such.

—Kickstarter campaign books on the indie side, plus other ways to sort of circumvent the tradpub issue while also not... losing as much money. Several big time authors (in and out of romance) have seen huge success with Kickstarter; obviously, it's harder for small-timers, but still possible! I also know of authors who've written chapter by chapter on Patreon and given their patrons special goodies before publishing the book.

—Genre diversity for authors. A lot of authors in the past wrote under one genre or subgenre, then had to use a pen name for anything else. Amanda Quick was Jayne Anne Krentz's historical romance pen name, for example. Now... I don't think people are as strict. Sierra Simone has written erotic historicals, contemporary, dark romance, monogamous, poly, m/m, m/f, f/f, m/m/f, f/f/m, romcoms, etc. Sarah MacLean is dropping a contemporary (not romance) novel soonish. I see this as a good thing all-around. Pen names are cool, but I don't think they should be a MUST.

—Less angst, more fluff. THANKS I HATE IT LOL. I'm gonna say something controversial (apparently) but this is my honest opinion: It is not a story if there is no conflict. What you wrote was a scene. Perhaps a very good scene! A very long scene, maybe! But there is not a STORY unless there is CONFLICT.

Now, I don't know if I've read a book with ZERO conflict. But I've read many lately wherein the conflict was so thin... I felt the story had little substance. Not every conflict has to be ANGST ANGST TRAUMARAMA. A book I recently didn't LOOOOOVE but whatever, I'll accept it as an example, is Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. The heroine and the hero are not in danger of losing their lives. Their conflicts are internal. She loves him but doesn't feel like he'll ever genuinely love her, he's a dipshit who essentially doesn't want to accept that she's the one because he a) has a hard time trusting women in general b) has a specific idea of what his life is going to be that was disrupted when his career ended unexpectedly, and he's still working through some shit on that.

Nobody is at gunpoint, nobody is cheating, nobody is doing one last job. They're just... struggling with their feelings and their senses of self. (If the hero hadn't crossed ONE LAST LINE, I think I would've rated that book higher, but it's a testament to SEP understanding conflict that I can dislike the book and still say "solid conflict".)

I just see a lot of authors shying away from serious conflict, and I wonder how much of it is because readers keep complaining about it. And yeah, bad conflict... sucks. But conflict does not inherently suck. I don't want to read 800 pages of PWP or pointless slow burn. I need PLOT. I need ACTION. And I think we can have low-conflict books and high-conflict books in the same market! But it feels like publishers (and perhaps some authors) don't feel confident in that.

Which is why your girl has realized that a lot of the books she loves are like... 10+ years old.

—Historical specific... the unproblematic 1800s white people. I want to make it clear: You can absolutely write politically progressive people of bygone eras well. The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe has a heroine who's outspoken about women's rights and reproductive freedom. Joanna places this against political occurrences of the time to make it flow easily, AND I think is actually pretty real about the heroine having to give some things up to be with the hero (a duke) even though he supports her and doesn't expect her to be a conventional duchess. Some sacrifices are inevitable. Adriana Herrera's An Island Princess Starts a Scandal has a great portrayal of semi-openly queer women in 19th century Paris... and that's something that totally existed and again, flows well.

It's not that I'm a stickler for accuracy at all. See: my love of Alexis Hall's Something Fabulous series. But I think that you either have to lean the fuck in to not being super accurate like they do, OOOOR you have to make it flow. When we suddenly have a duke being like "AND BTW I'M A FEMINIST" I don't fucking buy it lol. I need to see growth, and I need to understand why he has these views. I think there's a lot of low-effort shit being done to make historicals appear more progressive. And while I do think HR has a lot to reckon with, if that's the only way it can continue to exist... It feels as if that subgenre has to exist within a structure that we don't necessarily expect from other subgenres. Not a lot of billionaire romances (and that's still popular, despite what some may tell you) have the hero going "LET ME STOP AND EXPLAIN HOW I'M AN ETHICAL BILLIONAIRE".

I think that romance needs to be aware of its environment and progressive; I also think that romance requires some suspension of disbelief, and I think we're seeing a lot of white guilt driving some newer historical romances.

Because to go back to Adriana Herrera... That's a woman of color writing very politically aware historicals, while at the same time FULLY diving into the escapism and wish fulfillment and all the things people should be able to get out of a romance novel.

(And btw: All the things marginalized groups should be able to get out of romance novels! A Shore Thing by Joanna Lowell is an amazing romance novel with a trans hero, and I've gotta say, the book confronts transphobia, sure, but there is such fucking delicacy and it BY ZERO MEANS drives the fucking book, and I find that really important. That the hero is existing. That Adriana's heroes and heroines exist. And so on.)

[vthoang]

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gay monsters

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Blurb:

Sirens are known for their beauty and grace. Everything from their lithe figures to their perfectly symmetrical faces to the cadence of their voices is designed to charm. Pleasure of the flesh is how they sustain themselves. So, of course, Detective Carver would be the one siren lucky enough to hate sex.

Ever since his husband died, Carver has resented the defining feature of his race, but when his boss calls in someone to assist with his investigation, he finds himself confronted with a problem he never expected—attraction. Jian is supposed to be just an analyst, buttoned-up and stiff and unassuming. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he can put on a nice smile and act polite enough, but there's something behind his eyes that's decidedly not professional. That hunger for carnal satisfaction Carver thought long dead starts to come back to life as they work together.

And he has to wonder if he's just starving or if this is a craving.

[justallihere]

Hi there :)

Maybe this question was asked already. If so, sorry for repeating.

Do you plan some major battle in sinq? And do you like writing such stuff? I normally read epic fantasy. And battles are quite exciting in many books. Fourth Wing is my first romantic fantasy reading. And I must say that the battle of Resson was very confusing as for me. Wondering if romantic writers in general don’t like these scenes.

Hi!! This is kinda both a yes and a no because yes? But also no in that the actual fighting isn't really going to be the point of that scene? It will, as always, be an emotional and angsty affair above all else.

In general I don't like fighting/battle scenes. It's just not my strong suit to write and I have more fun with the interpersonal interactions and the emotional/mental toll of it all. And the romance :)

I think with the romantasy genre the books are always going to be romance first and fantasy second, so I never expect to see the most intricate or well-crafted fighting! I think we're all just suffering through it for the sake of the plot lmao

[sugar-phoenix]

Helloooo, sugar or phoenix! Everyone loves tropes, but I bet as a romantasy writer, you have some particular tropes that you really love.

What are some of your favourite tropes, whether to read or to write, that always just get your brain whirring?

Hello, thanks for asking! <3

I think, for writing, my favorite tropes would be:

Yin/Yang // opposite types -- I'm not sure if there's another name but it's like where the love interests are on two opposite sides of a spectrum, usually I like writing opposing magic systems and placing the two love interests at either ends of that.

Forced proximity/arranged marriage -- I like writing/reading this trope especially when the two characters don't exactly like each other or don't trust each other (but are forced to due to the circumstances).

Revenge? Vengeance? I love writing that kind of angsty stuff. Main character taking revenge for a loved one, main character being betrayed and taking revenge against the person who betrayed them, etc. etc. Bitter emotions that turn into passionate acts always get me.

As for reading... there are tropes that really get me going that aren't actually in the realm of romantasy!

Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, only one bed -- these are all the classic romantasy stuff that I will absolutely eat up.

Heist trope -- I LOVE heists. I love stuff like Six of Crows and Ocean's 11 -- the orchestrated plan and execution seriously make me sit up and want to write something related.

Doomed by the plot/doomed by fate -- I really like stuff like when a character tries to work against fate and they just don't succeed in getting their goal, but they also don't fail either -- but a different Third™️ option where they finally understand that they cannot get to that goal because their character has developed tenfold and they finally accept it (bonus points for angst if they sacrifice themselves).

In the same vein, I love self-fulfilling prophecies. Like, maybe it was a prophecy and everyone's fighting against it yet everything they're doing only moves the prophecy along -- OR maybe it was never a prophecy! Maybe it was just a rumor of a prophecy, or a prophecy that was made up, but because so many people believe in it, it fulfilled itself. That stuff really gets me, I eat it up.

Here are some other stuff that I love reading/writing:

Animal tropes. I'm not sure if this counts as a trope, but if a character is part animal, or an animal shifter, or has powers related to communication with animals, any of that -- love. Love reading it, love consuming media with those kinds of stuff in it, love writing it. I've always loved animals and drawing metaphors from people to animals and just -- anything like that.

Dark Academia.

Dark fantasy -- I love the angst factor in these, and I enjoy both reading and writing them.

Natural magic powers i.e. drawing powers from objects in the natural world, like gems, or moonlight/starlight, or plants, or blood/bones, etc. etc. These have so much potential for metaphors as well, like linking the idea of blood being a natural life force and making a character who has blood magic someone who really enjoys life and all it has to offer and maybe they don't like giving up on their pleasures in order to fight for a better cause (but they will have to anyway, cause you gotta fight your character flaw in order to grow).

Did I mention metaphors. I love metaphors and drawing real life functions to personalities and character flaws and that sort of stuff. Like making a "fox" character tricky, or making a tiger character someone who loves water and maybe wants to become a pirate (!! upcoming fiction?) -- anything like that. I especially like metaphors that aren't your standard cliche ones. For example, maybe you make a character with water powers one who is highly manipulative and finds themselves in everyone's weak crack, driving everyone to pieces -- because although we associate water with life and healing, water also erodes mountains and earth and rock. Things like that -- I love finding new ways to interpret things.

There's probably a lot more that I haven't mentioned but I think these are the things that I really, really love. Thanks so much for asking again! <3

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 We Free the Stars Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite found family story? ❓ 🦇 Zafira and Nasir return to a ghostly Sultan’s Keep, low on resources and allies alike. The dark forest has fallen, but the kingdom teems with fear of the Lion of the Night’s return. As Nasir fights to command the dark power in his blood, Zafira fights against a very different darkness festering through her bond with the Jawarat. Can they defy the darkness surrounding them to find the light?

💜 My lovely romantasy readers. While we're all waiting for a certain dragon book, why not slip into a rich, vivid, Arabian-inspired epic fantasy that will HAVE YOU ON YOUR KNEES for an intense, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers ship? We Free the Stars (the second book in the Sands of Arawiya duology) provides all that AND SO MUCH MORE.

💜 Hafsah Faizal is an absolute MASTER at intricate, eloquent, powerful prose. Between the stunning setting, realistic characters, and absolute wit, you'll remain enthralled with every page. As our rag-tag found family "zumra" races to restore magic, you'll remain seeped in Arawiya's world and Faizal's spell-casting language. It's lyrical, action-packed, full of longing and loss. As captivating as the world-building and attention to detail are, it's the characters that bring this story to life. Many romantasy stories focus solely on the main ship, but Zafira's relationships with her sister, best friend, a daama book, and those she's lost weigh on her heavier than her father's cloak ever did. Those relationships are meaningful, still growing, capable of shattering with a single mistake--much as real relationships are.

💜 Zafira and Nasir have suffered so much, but still find one another in stolen moments that can steal your heart just as swiftly. The build from enemies to allies to the possibility of more is authentic, never rushed, leaving you craving more with every page yet never denying readers too long. The development is authentic; a dizzying, delightful slow-burn that never steals from the main story.

💙 Unfortunately, the second half of this duology relies deeply on miscommunication. Again, the characters internalize a LOT, causing the pacing to drag at certain points. Some points of conflict were avoidable, if only the zumra spoke to one another (instead of Zafira talking to a daama book that sasses back). The third part of the book, while sweet, felt a little unnecessary, dragging out scenes that could have been collected into an epilogue.

🦇 Recommended for all romantasy fans, namely fans of Ember in the Ashes, Rebel of the Sands, The Wrath & the Dawn, Spice Road, and The City of Brass.

✨ The Vibes ✨ 🌙 Young Adult Epic Fantasy 🧭 Sands of Arawiya Duology 🏹 Magic ✨ Assassin/Huntress Enemies to Lovers 🌙 Lyrical and Spellbinding 🧭 Arab & Muslim Inspired/Writer 🏹 Triple POV ✨ "I came to kill you but fell for you" 🌙 Found Family 🧭 Royal Court/Political Intrigue 🏹 Slow Burn & Super Angsty

💬 Quotes ❝ “You seem to have no trouble being the end of me.” ❞ ❝ “Habibi. Hayati. Roohi. My love, my life, my soul, the words meant, but their meanings went deeper than that. Habibi was for friends and love that was real enough. Hayati was when love became an all-encompassing thing. Deeper and deeper, until one became the others life. Roohi was when a soul twined with its match and loved with the force of a thousand suns. When it slipped beneath the heart and tangled in the very fibres of an existence.” ❞ ❝ "You’re like a room full of books. Every time I see you, I discover something new.” ❞ ❝ They suffered alone. Quiet and brave. It was easy to believe that anyone who did not speak of suffering did not suffer. ❞ ❝ My bladed compass, sheathed in starlight. ❞ ❝ His compass. His queen. His life. ❞ ❝ He had been the Amir al-Maut until she had come and torn the monster to shreds with sharp words and coy glimpses. ❞ ❝ You’ll have me. No matter how thick the night, I will always be there to light your way. ❞ ❝ "They say the soul cannot rest until it finds its match. Then it ignites." ❞ ❝ “Do my people not deserve the freedom of yours? Do you know how it feels to stand beside others forged of the same flesh and bone and still be treated as inferior? As someone undeserving?” ❞

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

“literally just reskinned from an all white One Direction fanfic about an alien invasion. Which itself borrowed liberally from Red Queen”

????????

Red Queen seems to be really influencing a lot of YA and adult romance these days but it was never that good…

Anyway, I have no basis for my prediction but books like Fourth Wing (YA style adult book with smut) will probably continue to drive the adults who were stuck reading YA to the increasing market for those types of books. So YA itself with no breakout titles and no clear trends may try to put out more experimental work. It would be nice to see that since they don’t have to pander to adults as much anymore.

Also, I think that publishers may not be open to the more “diverse” brown/black girl books because of mostly white audiences. The editors themselves are mostly white. Mafi’s new series did not do as well and she’s going back to writing in the Shatter Me world. I do think Legendborn brought something new but I mean, the two tropey white love interests obviously are a huge draw along with how Shadowhunter-y the story is. It’s familiar and self insert-y in a way that a more “diverse” book isn’t. Not sure what could be done about this because it keeps YA stale. Their goal is selling books no matter what.

Re: this post

So I was doing a deep dive through Molly Chang’s socials after I finished her book because I was so bewildered by it. Turns out she got her start writing One Direction fanfiction on Wattpad. Gaze Upon Wicked Gods started out as Harry Styles fanfiction where he’s the angsty prince of an invading alien race and the protagonist is like a contemporary human living in the U.S. or UK. I’ve forgotten but it was definitely a western environment. Her soon to be published vampire book is almost definitively her more popular Zayn Malik story which was also a very like white European fantasy setting

Anyway Red Queen was horrible when it came out! But enough worse books have come out since that I have to give it some props. It was pretty influential back in the day as well— iirc it was patient zero for the trend shift from dystopian to court fantasy. So I’m not particularly surprised that it still has impact on the genre

I’m not sure about your prediction tbh! I could see it happening, but also Romantasy rn is such a homogenous genre (it’s literally all ACOMAF carbon copies) that you still end up finding more variation in YA. And, perhaps ironically, more variety is how we got the YA boom, and the category as it exists now, in the first place.

Basically, for the longest time, genre romance was (and has been) leaving money on the table because of its adherence to very strict formula, and dated norms. Around the Twilight craze, and the slew of paranormal romance copycats, YA ended up getting the attention of adults who weren’t necessarily interested in the strictness of adult genre romance. Because it was putting out so many romance heavy books, but the plots typically had more going on, and tended to just play out in ways that genre romance did not allow.

Publishers realized that catering to these adults was way more lucrative, and also that they could apparently endlessly chase trends to keep the interest going. And that’s how we’ve ended up where we’re at.

The thing is, Romantasy right now, is attempting nearly what the original New Adult category was attempting back in the early 2010s. They did try to launch New Adult! Major publishers, and a fair bit of indie ones, figured that if adults were really into YA, then doing the same thing but explicitly aimed at a more mature audience, and therefore more explicit, would be a slam dunk. But in trying to codify the tropes and shape it into its own thing, it was basically… a lot of very similar books that just had a lot of sex scenes. At the time, the main YA trends were still mostly contemporary, and the Fifty Shades craze had just happened. So NA was primarily just a lot of college set books with a ton of interchangeable CW plots, and the occasional like stalker/kidnapper/serial killer romance. And it tanked! Because it was so homogenous!

The few successful titles ended up splintering off into indie Dark Romance. But otherwise the experiment was essentially scrapped and trad publishers went back to YA and decided to just cram it full of sex scenes too lol. Which is how we got Sarah J Maas.

Fourth Wing’s boutique publisher (can’t remember the name off the top of my head) is basically singlehandedly trying to revive New Adult as an industry term and category. But I don’t think it’s going to happen tbh. Readers may use the term, but it’s really not a thing anymore if you talk to anyone involved in sales, book acquisitions, or marketing.

Romantasy is the real current attempt at a successor that actually has a chance. That being said, I’m skeptical because of several reasons. First, it already has a narrow scope by definition, you only get books with romance A plots in a fantasy setting. Second, it inadvertently ended up snuffing out several existing adult subgenres: Fantasy Romance, which, I know it’s confusing, but I promise it’s something different lol. These were Fantasy first books, that either had strong romance subplots or(!) were structured according to genre romance rules. It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it was doing well from the 80s to the mid 2000s basically. The key difference is that like. the worldbuilding and the plot mattered a lot. And it was primarily occupied by like LOTR and Mists of Avalon type copycats. The second sub genre is like the Sabriel type books. These are the “girly” Fantasy books that were frequently romance optional but about female protagonists and primarily aimed at women. So already we’ve lost variety, in search of the next big thing. And SFF trad acquisitions are alarmingly few, so it is something of a zero sum game. More worldbuilding lite SJM copycat Romantasy does directly mean there’s less of the other stuff.

But then on top of that, the only thing they’re pursuing seems to be ACOMAF rip offs, or the odd Reylo court fantasy. It’s a very narrow set of parameters. I suspect, unless there’s a pivot soonish, that they’re going to end up hitting over saturation and crash and burn like OG New Adult.

And then those readers will go back to indie and YA books

[throneofsapphics]

Ho ho ho,

Step aside spooky season, it’s Santa’s time to shine now! ✨

I hope you had a wonderful Halloween, and are looking forward to the week ahead.

In answer to your question for me about my favourite books - Santa is a sucker for anything romantic but especially romantasy (hence the ACOTAR) obsession. I recently read and loved Quicksilver by Callie Hart and I’ve just started Powerless by Lauren Roberts which I’m enjoy so far.

An update for your gift - Chapter one is well under way and I am having such a fun time crafting some Morlain goodness for you! I honestly can’t wait to share this fic 💕

A few questions for today:

❣️Aside from Mor and Elain who are some of your favourite characters in ACOTAR?

❣️Do you have any morlain headcanons?

❣️Are there any songs that remind you of Morlain?

Oh and one more thing… myself and Rudolph put together a little mood board for the fic and its general vibes below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB56wtTIDOx/?igsh=MTcwMTFlbXZ2aHUzdA==

I hope that you like it and that you have a wonderful week!

Santa x

Hi Santa!!

Thank you so much, sorry this took so long, I'm just getting back on Tumblr now! I thought powerless was fun and I hope you're enjoying it! I still need to read the sequels to it. I'm checking my library for Quicksilver immediately!

Aside from Mor and Elain, some of my favorite ACOTAR characters are Nesta and Rhys.

I hope this counts as a head canon, but I picture Mor and Elain as fixer-uppers/ home renovations queens, I think they'd have a blast re-doing their future home, and want to do it by themselves.

As for songs for Morlain, if we're going an angsty route I could see them as DYWTYLM by Sleep Token or Casual by Chappell Roan or Blood Sport by Sleep Token (I'm sorry all my music is angsty or metal)

THAT MOODBOARD IS BEAUTIFUL!!! OH MY GOD I'M SO (EXPLETIVE) EXCITED FOR THIS STORY AND YOUR MAGIC! I may have stared at that for several minutes.

Hope you're having an amazing week!

[nikethestatue]

That every “romantasy” book is a copy of SJM and of each other these days tells me the trend will die out soon. I give it another year-year and a half. The market is over saturated. The same way everyone wrote dystopian for a few years after thg and the only copy that managed to do well was divergent; everyone wrote child has magic powers after HP and Percy Jackson was the only other to do well; everyone wrote angsty supernatural teen romance after twilight and the mortal instruments/Cassandra Clare books were the only ones to do well. To me it seems like there’s a ton of SJM copies and Fourth Wing is the only one that’s managed to do well. It’s only a matter of time IMO before the trend dies, and I can’t say I’ll be too mad about it!

I kinda feel the same. There are entirely too many forgettable "Court of something' books and as time passes the interest will begin to wane. i feel like big names will remain, so SJM wont be going anywhere, but yeah, all the copycats will disappear. Which is just fine. The market IS oversaturated.

I think all the publishers now know that the female readership is absolutely ENORMOUS and very influential, so they'll be searching for the next big thing.

[mandyloves2read]

✮✮✮𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀 ✮✮✮

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𝐸𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝐹𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑦 𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑟𝑒! 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔! 𝐼’𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑! 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑡! 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔! 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ! 𝐼 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡!

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𝟱/𝟱⭐️

𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑜 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣

𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑒 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣

𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣

𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣

𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣

⁣

𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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𝐴𝑀𝐼𝐷 𝐶𝐿𝑂𝑈𝐷𝑆 𝐴𝑁𝐷 𝐵𝑂𝑁𝐸𝑆 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐸𝑙𝑙𝑎 𝐹𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑠 #𝐿𝐼𝑉𝐸! ☁️💗 👑

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𝐴𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡—𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝐹𝑎𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚. 𝐼𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑈𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝐴𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑒’𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝐹𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝑆𝑜 𝐼 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑔𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝐼 𝑠𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼’𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑓𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑.

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦.

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𝐴𝑉𝐴𝐼𝐿𝐴𝐵𝐿�� 𝑁𝑂𝑊 ⤵️

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Amazon US: amzn.to/3RVBxN5

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3xHEs5a

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/4eG1w53

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3zlZG94

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#NOWLIVE #KINDLEUNLIMITED #ROMANTASY #FANTASY #ANTIHERO #NEWRELEASE #EllaFieldsStreetTeam #BookReview #FiveStarRead #FiveStarReview #MustRead #Steamy #Angsty #Spicy #EnemiesToLovers #Haflings

[esta-elavaris]

Just wondering if you’d be able to share some tips on writing? Your fics are legitimately some of my all time faves, and when I was a teen a dabbled in fanfic writing but I’ve never been a strong writer if I’m being honest. But I have a fic idea that I really wanna try and write since I can’t find anything else with this specific trope 😅 would be amazing if you could give some advice on how to improve!

Thank you so much!! 💜 A lot of this is just off the top of my head but I hope some of it is useful -- good luck with your fic!

Okay so first of all one of my favourite pieces of advice is something you're literally already following by taking on an idea without being totally sure how to go about it. That's when a project always ends up being a good one, and that's what makes you improve ten times faster than like, "easy" ideas that don't have any intimidation factor to them. I'm always happiest with the fics I didn't know I'd be able to pull off in the beginning, and my crap ones are always the ones where I go in confident.

Read a lot and read broadly - books, not just fanfic. You'll end up reading a lot of stuff you didn't like, but you'll know WHY you didn't like it and it'll inform the kind of decisions you make with your own writing. And, better than that, you'll also find a lot of stuff that you didn't expect to like but actually did. Plus it opens up so many avenues for ideas to flow in from unexpected sources, even from stuff like autobiographies. And like, I think a lot of people underestimate that kind of thing because they'd go "well I'm writing romantasy, why would I need to read horror books?" but then they have no idea how to handle tense, spooky, or even angsty scenes when they do crop up - and those little moments of genre-hopping make a story feel real, anyway, because it's more true to life. Real life isn't permanently fluffy, or comedic, or even depressing all of the time without any let up, and like? That's why the best pieces of media are so good? LOTR has strong elements of fantasy (duh) but also comedy, romance, action, drama, and even bits of horror all at once and that's why it's so vivid because so does life (although in a far less dramatic way, for me at least 💀 idk what other folk get up to).

If you read consciously (critically?), too, you can go and seek out how your favourite writers handle things like exposition, or the bits that serve just to get the characters from point A to point B, or even more minor details like dialogue tags. I find that really helpful because it reminds you that not every sentence has to be like? Groundbreaking or even particularly good? "She walked over to the chair and sat down" is fine, it's golden, it serves a purpose, but when you get too in your head about wanting something to be great, it's easy to forget that and get too hung up on little throwaway lines.

Also people are gonna be sick of me saying this but the best thing I've ever done for my writing is writing every day, as a rule. If I could only ever give one piece of writing advice ever again, it'd be that. I do think folk lean too much towards the "any time the vibe is slightly off don't write a word! self care!!!" thing and uhhh not writing every single time you can find a minor excuse not to is going to be way worse for you than forcing a page down when you don't particularly want to and the real self care is the fic we forced ourselves to write along the way. I started Little By Little juuuuust before I started daily writing, I think, and comparing that to stuff I was even writing just one year later shows how quickly it forced me to improve. It's like a muscle, the more you work it, the stronger it gets - and if you show up every day, the ideas will too.

I know there's not much like? Technical advice here but honestly I don't have any of that to give? I don't approach chapters like "ah, yes, this one shall begin with dialogue because that provides an element of (literary term that I'm too tired to use as an example) which sets things up nicely for (other literary term I don't have enough brain cells to conjure)", I'm not that technical or that smart about it, if I do try to approach things that way it doesn't feel organic, I'm just out here vibing and feeling my way through it. But like I said, if you read enough and write enough, you get used to that and your gut will tell you which way to take things.

[fightingmonsterswithwords]

I’m rattling and gnawing the bars of my enclosure right now don’t tease me with more lucifer without showing me😭😭 i need him so bad. I shed a tear of joy at the way you wrote him in Cursed and Divine, like i can’t explain it you wrote him with this air of sensuality and mystery that makes u wanna know everything about him, the way you write him makes me wanna play captain save-a-hoe and fix everything about his life. I love Alastor but not as much as i love Lucifer when he popped up in the story he got pushed from my mind. sorry for the rambles you’re just a good author 😩

I'm gonna cry for real 😭💖 thank you so much!!

I was honestly very nervous about how the chapter turned out (and I still need to edit it a little bit), especially Luci. He was going to be quite more distrustful, among other things, because things between them are supposed to be slow (I don't see him realistically jumping into a new relationship out of the blue and he doesn't have much love for sinners)... but I guess I wanted to have a nice cozy scene for once. God knows Reader deserves it and both of them needed it - just as much as I needed to have Lucifer there already because I'm too impatient, hahah.

Their dynamic is intended to be very different to all the one going on with Alastor. I still have to figure a lot of stuff out, though. And once they're all in the same place is going to be a proper mess.

As for the other project, like I said it's completely different story (I would say, catered especifically to some of my interests, lmao) and I'm not sure if it would have a great reception, but I haven't succeeded in banishing the plot bunny out of my mind and I'm oficially writing it now, so... we'll see.

Some info: it's an AU with an alternate timeline to that of the show or at least happens at a different time, it takes place almost entirely on Earth, the genre would be something like dark romantasy with gothic vibes (??) in a big oppressive manor and a slightly fucked-up family with an interest in the occult. I would say it's going to be quite angsty simply because neither Lucifer nor the main character are going to have a great time, just a head's up, but I have some really beautiful scenes in mind as well and even an ending planned already. I don't even know, I'm just vibing 🤓

[sometimesraven]

WHEN THE STARS ALIGHT Appreciation Week Day One

Reasons why you picked up the book or reasons why you love it

OH MAN so I think I saw the call for ARC readers on TikTok and that's how I came across WTSA?

Honestly I read "star princess" in the summary and immediately slammed my way into the comment section bc one of my oldest writing hyperfixations was my own kind of star princesses and I'd literally never heard of another author using that kind of concept before.

I used to be obsessed with fantasy and romantasy but honestly dropped out of the genres when they ended up being a lil too same-y? Pretty white girl meets angsty white guy, dubious consent ensues. So I knew I was taking a risk picking it up but knowing there was a POC main character made me more receptive to the idea because you just Don't See That in romantasy or even just fantasy to be honest.

I'm glad I did! My ADHD struggles with flowery prose and content this heavy with information but with the pressure of ARC deadlines I was able to really push through and get fully into it, and after sitting with it for a while (something I haven't done with a piece of media in Some Time) I am fully obsessed with these complex, flawed characters and the world they're in. I'm glad I took a chance on this series and this author and I can't wait to keep reading <3

WTSA is an indie romantasy novel, the first in an ongoing trilogy published by Camilla Andrews. Find out more about the author and her projects here.